OCEAN CITY — A potentially tragic afternoon had a somewhat happy ending on Monday when a rented pontoon boat caught fire in the back bays near Assateague and West Ocean City, but all seven people on board were safely removed by a Good Samaritan.
Around 4:45 p.m. on Monday, in the midst of a sudden severe thunderstorm that soaked the resort area, seven people from New Jersey rented a pontoon boat from Under the Bridge Watersports and headed south in the Sinepuxent Bay for a late afternoon of tubing. The crew on the boat saw the skies darkening and the storm approaching and attempted to turn back.
According to Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP), the crew on the rented pontoon smelled something burning and the engine stopped working in the bay behind Mystic Harbor in West Ocean City. Attempts to restart the engine failed and flames suddenly appeared. Soon, the entire vessel was engulfed in flames.
A Good Samaritan on another vessel safely removed the seven people from the burning boat and no one was injured. The NRP, Coast Guard and Ocean City Fire Boat responded, but the vessel burned to the waterline. According to the NRP, the vessel’s owner is hoping to salvage it.
The Good Samaritan was later identified as Ted Gajewski of White Horse Park, who was out on the water on a pleasure cruise in the same area with his wife and another couple on Monday afternoon.
“We were just out having fun with friends when we saw the thunderstorms forming and decided to head home,” said Gajewski this week. “We could see the thick smoke and went over to the area to see if we could help. By the time we got there, the engine was engulfed in flames and the fire was spreading to other areas of the boat.”
Gajewski said he quickly called 911 and then began taking the seven passengers off the burning vessel.
“We got all of the kids, seven kids from New Jersey, off the burning boat and onto our boat,” he said. “A short time later, the DNR, the Ocean City Fire Boat and the Coast Guard arrived on the scene. The DNR took the kids off our boat and loaded them onto their boat.”
The late Monday boat burning was one of two incidents involving a rented pontoon.
Earlier in the day, around 1:30 p.m., a group of eight females rented a 24-foot pontoon boat and took it through the Inlet and into the ocean against the advice from the renter not to do so. The crew on the rented pontoon beached the vessel near the north end of Assateague about a quarter mile from the Inlet. The eight females safely got off the vessel, but a commercial tow was required to bring the pontoon back through the Inlet and into port. No violations were issued by the NRP.